austtr - 9:04 am on Feb 20, 2004 (gmt 0)

Since day 1 there has been a statement to the effect that other ads on the page shall not be "text-based or content-targeted advertisement(s)"

To my way of thinking you can interpret that to be almost anything you want. eg this example is obviously mimicking Google's style and format

Worlds Best Widgets
Stockists of the most complete range of widgets, all sizes and colors guaranteed
http://www.widgetsRus.com

Yet if I put a box around it, change colors, add my own header, do any manner of things to change the appearance, it still remains a text based advertisement no matter what the surrounding embroidery may look like.

Now the "content targeted advertisement" really throws me off center... because isn't the whole purpose of an advert to provide "content targeting". If I want the viewer to click through to the page that sells blue widgets, then the advert "content" is sure as hell going to "target" the sale of blue widgets.

Google obviously has some criteria in mind as to what is acceptable, so to coin an old auditing phrase, "don't tell me... show me".

Perhaps some examples of good and bad would help because I am positive there are a lot of folks reading these words and interpreting them differently than I do.... which is the whole point I'm trying to make.